Chapter 5 - The Trap is Set
By Friday morning, the atmosphere in my office was electric. The 5:00 PM deadline set by Dr. Pendelton was ticking down, and Ethan was receiving real-time updates from his contacts inside the federal court system.
At 11:00 AM, Ethan walked into my office carrying two hot cups of coffee.
"It gets worse," Ethan said, setting a mug on my desk. "Your parents are trying to liquidating their own assets to cover the million, but they’re broke."
I looked up, surprised. "Broke? Charles had a substantial pension and their house in Highland Park was worth at least two million."
"Was," Ethan corrected. "Charles took out a second mortgage on the Highland Park home two years ago to seed Emily’s company. They defaulted on the payments six months ago. The bank initiated foreclosure proceedings last week."
"So they offered me a 'loan' for a million dollars while their own house was being foreclosed on," I said, shaking my head at the sheer audacity.
"Precisely," Ethan said. "And there’s another twist. Lorraine has been calling Aunt Sylvia’s old friends from the neighborhood, claiming that you stole money from your grandfather's estate years ago and that's how you built Northstar Capital."
A cold fire flared in my chest. "She's trying to build a public narrative that I owe them the money."
"Yes," Ethan said. "A local tabloid writer for a Chicago gossip blog just emailed my office asking for a statement regarding an upcoming article titled: 'Chicago Real Estate Mogal Refuses to Help Dying Family After Stolen Inheritance.'"
They were going to drag my reputation through the mud to force my hand. They knew I relied on my clean corporate image to maintain institutional investor trust. If a story broke claiming I had stolen from my family, it could trigger audits from my firm's major partners.
"Who paid off the tabloid writer?" I asked.
"Lorraine," Ethan replied. "She used her last five thousand dollars in savings to hire a sleazy public relations consultant."
I leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. They thought they were playing chess, but they didn't realize I owned the board.
"Ethan," I said quietly. "Call our chief legal counsel. Tell him to file an immediate, emergency defamation lawsuit against Lorraine Whitaker, Charles Whitaker, and the gossip publication."
"A lawsuit?" Ethan asked, a sly smile spreading across his face. "That will make the conflict public."
"No," I replied, pulling out my phone. "It will make their crimes public. Attach the identity theft police reports from nineteen years ago, the credit card fraud documentation, and the grand jury subpoenas served on Emily's firm. Let the court filings speak for themselves."
"And what about Dr. Pendelton's deadline at 5:00 PM?"
I looked at my watch. It was 11:30 AM.
"Call Dr. Pendelton's attorney," I commanded. "Tell him that Northstar Capital is willing to buy out Dr. Pendelton’s claim against Luxe Horizon Real Estate for full face value—one million dollars."
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Ethan stopped, staring at me in total shock. "Wait... Rebecca, you're going to pay them?"
"I'm not giving them a dime, Ethan," I smiled, a cold, sharp edge in my voice. "I'm buying the debt. Which means I become Emily's primary creditor. And instead of letting her settle out of court with Pendelton... I am going to hand the entire evidence package directly to the United States Attorney's Office myself."
